Pets: Study indicates that viewing cute pet photos & videos could boost work performance

They attribute it to “kawaii”, a term used to describe a quality of cuteness in Japanese culture.

Hiroshi Nittono, Michiko Fukushima, Akihiro Yano and Hiroki Moriya were researchers conducting the study, which was published in PLOS One.

Citing the study:

Kawaii things not only make us happier, but also affect our behavior. This study shows that viewing cute things improves subsequent performance in tasks that require behavioral carefulness, possibly by narrowing the breadth of attentional focus. This effect is not specific to tasks related to caregiving or social interaction. For future applications, cute objects may be used as a facile emotion elicitor. Cute features not only make objects more user friendly and approachable, but also induce careful behavioral tendencies in the users, which is beneficial in specific situations, such as driving and office work.

Viewing images of baby animals not only induces happiness, but a sense of goodwill and friendliness toward others.

Increased happiness, productivity and goodwill are qualities that we can all benefit from, so could this be a way to improve workplace environments?